Reuss bridge Sins – Hünenberg
The Reuss Bridge is a bridge over the Reuss , between Sins in the canton of Aargau on the west side and Hünenberg in the canton of Zug on the east side. The covered wooden bridge was built in the middle of the 17th century on the initiative of the city of Zug . The bridge is located on the southern outskirts of Sins, around half a kilometer from the center. Hünenberg is about two and a half kilometers to the east. Until 1993 all through traffic ran over this bridge; since the opening of another bridge around 100 meters south, the wooden bridge has been closed to motorized traffic.
history
At least since 1246 there was a ferry across the Reuss in Sins . In 1627 a tragic accident occurred when 40 pilgrims on their way to the Einsiedeln monastery overloaded the ferry boat until it capsized. As a result, the city of Zug first considered building a bridge. The focus was less on security considerations and more on economic interests, as the people of Zug hoped for easier access to the grain producers in the free offices . The city of Lucerne , which operated its own bridge in Gisikon , saw its customs revenue at risk and feared that Zug would have a greater influence on the common subject area. Despite the Lucerne resistance, construction work began in the spring of 1640, under the direction of Michael Wickart and costing around 17,000 guilders . The bridge was opened after a construction period of 16 months.
After the outbreak of the Second Villmerger War , the Zugers fortified the eastern bridgehead. They created a simple wall system with a diameter of 20 to 40 meters. Another wall blocked the area between the Reuss and the edge of the forest, and two external works flanked the north-eastern axis. On July 1, 1712, troops from Bern occupied the village and the western bridgehead. After a three-week stalemate, the central Swiss troops advanced on July 20, 1712 via Gisikon to Sins. They took the bridge and drove the Bernese out after the loss-making battle of Sins , which killed around 500 people.
At the beginning of the 19th century the bridge had become dilapidated. In 1807, the Lucerne master builder Joseph Ritter received the order to partially rebuild the bridge while retaining the existing pillars. The Hünenbergers had to deliver the building material, but then only paid half the bridge toll. Troops of the Sonderbund destroyed the eastern half of the bridge on November 10, 1847 to stop the advance of Guillaume-Henri Dufour's army . This measure proved ineffective, as Zug surrendered two weeks later. Immediately after the end of the Sonderbund War , an emergency bridge was built, and in 1848 the bridge toll was lifted. The east part was rebuilt in 1852 by the Winterthur master carpenter Johann Schalcher, based on plans by Ferdinand Stadler . In 1945 the bridge was supplemented with a covered walkway, and three years later the roadway was paved.
From the 1960s onwards, motorized traffic increased significantly and the Reuss Bridge became more and more of a bottleneck for two reasons. Firstly, it was only passable in one lane and secondly, a level crossing followed immediately over the stretch of the Aargau Southern Railway , where the barriers were often closed due to the dense train traffic. The project was disputed for decades, right up to the federal court . Construction work finally began in December 1993 and the new Reuss Bridge was opened in September 1996. The covered wooden bridge is now only passable for pedestrians and cyclists. Since then, the “Broggemärt” has taken place at the end of September. This fair is a revival of the «Maitlimärt», which was last held in 1860.
Building
The central pillar and the two bank piers have been preserved from the first building from 1640. The western part of the bridge, constructed by Joseph Ritter, consists of wooden arches, based on the model of the bridges by Carl Friedrich von Wiebeking . The span and radius of the arches, which are clad six times and undercut the roadway, are around 15 meters. The roadway, in turn, hangs from six pairs of hanging pillars that clasp the arches like pincers. Lying Andrew's crosses stiffen the bind wood above and below the roadway. From 1824 to 1826, Fidel Leimbacher reinforced the wooden arch construction with a combined hanging and trussing structure . The eastern part of the bridge consists of a double suspension and truss structure, whose struts of different lengths consist of individual beams; Three to four beam layers are interlocked on the main tension bar. Using blocks and wedges, the hanging columns act as pincers, which are additionally stiffened by St. Andrew's crosses. Simple profiles adorn the entrances, and since 1945 the coats of arms of the cantons of Aargau and Zug.
literature
- Georg Germann: The art monuments of the canton Aargau . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . Volume V, Muri District. Birkhäuser, Basel 1967, p. 487-490 .
Web links
- History of the municipality of Sins with a chapter about the bridge
- Broggemärt Hünenberg-Sins
- Reussbrücke Sins – Hünenberg in the inventory of historical monuments of the canton Aargau
Individual evidence
- ^ Anne-Marie Dubler : The Second Villmerger War of 1712: Why the Freiämter refused this war. (PDF; 210 kB) Municipality of Sins, accessed on October 19, 2012 .
- ↑ History of the Reuss Bridge. Broggemärt Hünenberg-Sins, accessed on April 16, 2016 .
Coordinates: 47 ° 11 '11.6 " N , 8 ° 24' 1.6" E ; CH1903: six hundred and seventy-two thousand eight hundred ninety-seven / 226624